Production and fulfillment schedule update.

I really appreciate the patience of those of you who are still waiting for your Portholes, allowing us to work out the supply chain issues. Thank you!

We finally have a firm production schedule that the suppliers not only promised but also have been able to stick to over the past month. At the end of this week, the assembly line will hit a 5000 porthole mark and the entire Kickstarter edition production of well over 8000 will be complete at the end of June. The last Kickstarter rewards should be en route to backers at the end of July.

Our next wave of shipments won't take place until the end of June due to a 3 week delay in port on the way out of China. Our shipment has been rescheduled to arrive in Chicago 6/22. It should be quickly followed up by one on 6/29 and two more shipments in July. There still are variables in play that we don't control. On the Chinese side, we haven't been able to get export clearance prior to physically delivering our shipments to port and the freight forwarder doesn't book our container space until it has cleared, making it somewhat unpredictable since there isn't always space available on a short notice. While we are able to pre-clear our shipments with US customs, there still is a possibility of being selected for inspection, potentially adding more time to the process.

If you're wondering where you stand in terms of the shipping waves, most US backers who backed by 8/11 have received their Portholes. The next two late June shipments will get us to the backing date of 8/20. Those who backed after 8/20 should receive theirs at the end of July.

Canadian backers: Your Portholes are a part of the next wave shipping at the end of June.

European backers: The EU shipment experienced a similar outbound delay. It is scheduled to arrive at our warehouse in Spain 6/25. We expect to have all of those en route to you first week in July.

Rest of the World backers: Your Portholes are a part of the shipment currently scheduled to arrive 6/29. Depending on your location, they should be en route to you first or second week in July.

@JulianSimpson - thank you for the well thought out and expressive response to my prior criticisms. You are correct in that I have posted a few posts here in the Porthole Update Threads. I completely agree with you on just about all fronts though. My mere point is that the Crucial Detail team is doing a poor job at communication, but with all of the issues that have arisen, and people complaining about "seeking counsel", or issues with not being able to actually work the Kickstarter Website, CD has better things to do than to write emails to a bunch of people that just sit there and complain all day long.

That link that you shared was very informative and cool... but it points to the obvious, as well as the fact that they all had the same thing in common. Everyone should have known this was coming.

@John S - thanks for your reply, I've read a couple of your other posts, and I can see you're a big supporter of the product and the Crucial Detail team. Let's be clear - I'm hugely impressed with the product, and I'm most definitely looking forward to having the Porthole in my possession. Additionally, having looked into Crucial Detail, I'm also impressed with their design skills, and what would seem to be a number of high quality products.

Also - to your point, I'm a product manager. I oversee and have overseen the design, development and delivery of a number of products ranging from small, simple bespoke pieces to large, highly complex products involving significant numbers of vendors in design, production and delivery for global companies on an international scale. So yes, in short, I do know a few things about manufacturing, and yes, I do feel qualified to comment.

I'm in complete agreement that the considerable interest, which far exceed the team's target will have added complexity to production, supply and shipping - there's no question about that. However, in this scenario, the Crucial Detail team weren't dealing with a set of CAD drawings, a clay model and two guys working out of their apartment - Martin Kastner is an award winning product designer with training in metal work, and Crucial Detail are a well regarded (albeit reasonably small) design studio with products already for sale through their online shop, and they actually own their own small manufacturing facility. Additionally, the team started with a relatively refined, environment-tested prototype.

Let me also say that I believe Martin's communications have been earnest, well-intentioned. However, they haven't exactly excelled in one of the key areas of product management - expectation management. It's true that via participating in a crowd-sourced funding round, we've all accepted part of the risk - this is an obligatory part of investing a small fraction into a large funding drive. However, it's also true that by opening up the project to Kickstarter, Martin and the Crucial Detail team have opened up themselves to performance assessment. Yes, the overall investment was huge, but the sheer volume was quickly obvious - the team encouraged both new and existing customers to invest further. At this stage it would have been apparent that the team were facing a much larger task than originally anticipated, and provisions could have started to be made to accommodate the level of interest. Additionally, producing significantly higher volumes of components/product can introduce significant savings through economies of scale - savings that can often be thrown into quality inspection, project management and risk management.

From the beginning, there was obvious concern from the backers that the project wouldn't be delivered on time. When complications arose due to problems within the manufacturing process, the communications were apologetic, but effectively blamed the issues on those companies producing the components. Here's the issue - whilst these companies may have been at fault for producing substandard components, they were appointed by Crucial Detail. Let's be clear - the party responsible for the substandard component production were Crucial Detail - they employed the manufacturers. Who were they responsible to? Their backers.

Once the Christmas deadline was missed, people were understandably disappointed, but the majority of people were still excited by what is obviously a fantastic product. Even if the delays were unavoidable, the lack of communications clearly explaining the issues, and their risks to project delivery were not. When fully armed with the facts, and treated with respect, the majority of people will continue to support a wayward schedule when an excellent product is at stake. Telling the investor audience that the manufacturers were to blame for producing substandard parts was not good expectation management - providing a better description of their issue handling, and then giving an accurate analysis of the knock-on effect to delivery schedules would have been. Perhaps a little of the time spent on producing beautiful apple-esque packaging could have been put into more effective schedule management. And don't get me wrong, I love the look of the packaging - it's beautiful. I'd love to have my Porthole more.

From the get go, the handling of this project has felt decidedly reactive, not something I would expect from such an outwardly facing professional team. This may not be the case, and you can argue that I'm being unfair - but how would either of us know? Communication establishing this has been a little lacking.

And finally - just so there is no mistaking my position - I'm really, really looking forward to receiving my Porthole. I believe in the product, I believe in the design of the product and I think the Crucial Detail team are an amazing product design team. However, like many others on this forum expressing their opinions, I am a little disappointed in the delays, and the way the impact of these delays has been communicated to us, their backers.

@JulianSimpson , you are correct in that Porthole is in the bottom category, and everyone is correct in that this is late. Notice the vast majority of all the solutions in that bottom category ended up raising WAY more than they expected, shipping out THOUSANDS more products than they expected... Porthole is no exception going over 25 times the amount of funding expected! If you know anything about MFG, that poses HUGE issues.

Can someone please block @ky ? Give it a rest.... Take a deep breath and repeat after me. "All good things come to those that wait, and Patience is a virtue". I look forward to my porthole whenever it might be!

These constant delays are getting pretty ridiculous. It is JUST an infuser though. It's not like I need it or am having to make due without it, but it is annoying. Probably even more so to those that were given as gifts. One of mine was meant for a gift but that has long since passed. To me what is most annoying about it are the people trying to make excuses for them saying "this is a kickstarted project" and "you should know what you signed up for." While this is true, this isn't their first rodeo. Crucial Detail has a website that sells many products so they should have been more familiar with the challenges this project would face and the possible delays. In short, they should have had their ducks in a row before offering this kickstarter with delivery in OCT 2012, when they should have known better. Oh well. It's not a crucial product I can't live with out (no pun intended) and I only hope it is as awesome as they promised it to be. If it is, I'll be happy, whenever it is I finally receive it.

It's so interesting that and individual who voices displeasure or irritation with a project creator or their progress is labeled as "someone who doesn't understand how Kickstarter works". Absolutely fascinating.

@Ingmar - Great responses…I don't believe that Martin is trying to "trick" me per se…but rather I don't believe that he has been completely honest or forthcoming with his backers. I know that may be a fine to nonexistent line…but in my mind there is a difference.
Also, to be clear, I did not request a refund from Martin at any time. His refund to me was unsolicited. I openly acknowledge that my communication below can be easily construed to mean I wanted a refund…but I never explicitly requested one. I would have much rather had a Porthole, even if it was months late. It's why I funded in the first place.

@Keith - I know you did not direct a comment to me, but in reply to Martin, yes. That is exactly what my accusation is. Frankly, you don't have to believe me that my friend ordered on CrucialDetail.com and has already received her Porthole. In fact, you shouldn't take my word for anything. I'm an unverified internet user. But consider that Martin has for some time, and still is, offering the Porthole for sale on CrucialDetail.com. His original promised delivery date to those who ordered earlier on his website was also - like us - months ago. I'm not necessarily surprised that he would be trying to pacify those buyers.

While I am kind of bummed it has taken a while, all I know I this - I would rather wait for something that lives up to the quality you'd expect or you'd provide to Chef Achatz. I'm disappointed to see so many people angry and saying bad things. Not sure what the expected, but I'm looking forward to your work. Please don't get discouraged by the bleating of a few.

Thanks for the excellent work to bring this to market. Also, I visited The Aviary a couple days after this past Christmas and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I had the kitchen tasting menu with the ten drink pairings. Incredible. I would never have been aware of it without seeing the Porthole, and since I understand how Kickstarter actually works, I'll be happy to receive mine at the end of July if things remain on schedule. Hopefully you have a June update coming in the next week or two!

@Susan Yes, still on track. There has been no schedule change since the last update. The next shipment is scheduled to arrive at the warehouse after the weekend. We need a couple of days for kit assembly. Subsequent shipments are scheduled to be processed in three more bi-weekly increments. Backers receive an email survey couple of days before their shipment goes out so they can update their address if necessary and then a tracking notice once the shipment has been processed.

So, just to be sure I have this straight - there were units sold via the post-Kickstarter web store which have been shipped and received already? Before the vast majority of us here were shipped ours? And after we were made to look like fools by trusting that they would ship before XMas last year? Is that accurate??

Martin, for those of us "patiently" waiting, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect an update since May 29th. Are you still on track for the end of June (6/22 to Chicago) for a major shipment? That's only 4 days away...you should have an idea.

@Ky, cc@Martin,
I agree with you that Martin's communication, to say the least, has been scarce.
Bear in mind however that Kickstarter is a crowd funding to start something new. You also have the possibility to never see any of the goods promised. I am still waiting, patiently. And as I see the comments of the backers before me who already received their portholes, I am confident that the goods WILL be delivered, albeit LARGELY beyond the promised date.
Kickstarter is a great way to launch new ideas, but as with any new idea, the risk of failing is always there.
I am certain that Martin did everything to make this work, but some people just are not good at using words. Simply saying "I contacted the wrong production facility" can for some people be difficult. To imply that that person tried to trick you, get your money or anything else, is just plain false.
Kickstarter is a venture, shared with many backers. If all would ask their money back when something goes wrong, there would be no Kickstarter projects. Kickstarter is NOT a store where you buy something readily available. It is a place where you CREATE something. And sometimes, THAT takes a long time.
I DO however share your concern that Martin's communication is poor. Very poor.

@Martin -
Just an update to let you know that I did receive your refund check.

I have also heard back from Kickstarter Support that they have flagged you for future project submission after I sent them a note of the fulfillment of non-Kickstarter orders that you have essentially admitted to by your refund, and that I further verified with my friend in pre-discovery for filing legal action. Kickstarter further stated that they "will take the status of this project into consideration if this creator submits another project."

Because of this, I'm withdrawing my previous statement that I will be refusing your refund check–conditional upon it's clearance by my bank.

I am confident that Kickstarter will take the necessary actions in the future to prevent another situation like the one you have created for your backers.

@Martin – Many years ago, my mentor when I started working in the professional world once advised me that saying "Thank you for your patience." is - in fact - an insult disguised as a compliment. When someone has put their faith in you as a service/product provider, you should not then ascribe responsibility for delivering on your commitment to the manufacturer, the factory molds, the FDA, the packaging printer, customs, delays in port, the Chinese government. It's YOUR responsibility.

Conversely, saying, "I don't know…" "I made a mistake…" "I was wrong…" "I apologize…" "I'm sorry.", assures your patrons that you recognize that things have not been delivered as expected and are taking responsibility for it.

So having not received a single Kickstarter update from you with any of the above phrases, I was not particularly surprised that your offline email to me further absolved yourself of responsibility for anything by stating that my friend must not be able to distinguish between Backing on Kickstarter.com, Buying on CrucialDetail.com, or Receiving a Gift from a Friend (Allow me to assure you she does.). Or, that you stated you have not shipped to anyone other than Kickstarter backers (Which would obviously not be good for your reputation.). Or especially, that it closed with…"Thank you for your patience."

I've been patient for several months. But I'm not feeling patient anymore. So please, feel free to thank other backers who choose to be patient, but after hearing from my friend, I'm no longer one of them. And yes, it would seem logical you wouldn't ship orders before you fulfill the Kickstarter edition, but that would also mean you have even more impatient, incredibly angry customers who ordered through your website months ago when you promised the same missed delivery dates…and retail logic dictates that those retail transaction customers can't be brushed off with the, "Well, this is just what you sign up for with Kickstarter." excuse.

So I'm left with the my choice of the word of a trusted, reliable friend…or yours.

I would like to know if you are sending the shipments by FedEx. I have been contacted, partialy, but cant get hold of the shipment number or guide... I live in Mexico City. Have you sent anything yet? Need to know if it is something else... Thanks in advance.

Hello, I am having my Portholes shipped to Canada. I was just wondering if you have heard of any problems with the tea with shipping to Canad and what the duty is expected to be, I purchased 5 Portholes. I can have it shipped to the US in needed. Thanks for letting me know.

Hopefully the schedule works out this time. It is now almost half a years since I printed out your christmas card. And it is SO embarrassing that I have to tell my parents again and again that the gift is delayed. But yeah, I know this is Kickstarter so it is my fault that I relied on the project promises and are now in this position.

A friend of mine who did NOT fund through Kickstarter, but rather ordered hers through your Crucial Detail website...has now received hers before I have received mine. So you're not only several months behind in delivering your Kickstarter edition, but you're shipping to customers who ordered through your website before you fulfill the Kickstarter edition?

However. The projected deliverydate could not be worse :(. I am going out of the country in the beginning of juli for 3 weeks, and the postoffice only keeps packages for 14 days before returning them.

So if the schedule is correct and you ship the packages from spain (i'm an EU backer) in the first week of july and it arrives at the postoffice before the 8th it will be returned to the sender. Could you "hold" my package and send it after the 8th from spain ?

When delivery was not going to make the October 2012 date, I could accept that. Things happen. When they would not be done by Christmas, I was upset but understanding. But as the delivery date keep being delayed, we just kept getting excuses.

I pledged September 4th. Mine apparently, if I am lucky, will ship at the end of July and I will probably receive the first week of August, making it a minimum of 11 months from when I pledged.. These were meant to be 2012 Christmas gifts. With three months before Christmas as a cushion, I would never have guessed that it would be August before I received the pledged items.

And on top of that, I am extremely worried about the quality if you have been having this much trouble. If I finally get them and find them defective, what do you have to deal with that?

I do have to echo Julian Simpson's fine words questioning just how devoted to this project you were, especially given that you did beat your pledge goal by 2,600%. My faith in Kickstarter is not diminished, though you will have to give a whole lot more assurance before I pledge on any of your future projects.

Superbacker

Gary, read it again.... "most US backers who backed by 8/11 have received their Portholes. The next two late June shipments will get us to the backing date of 8/20." - I am pretty sure 8/13 falls in there somewhere.....

I am following up on mt $175 "investment", which has still not panned out. I am fully annoyed and frustrated at this point, as I have received nothing. I funded on 8/13, and now your latest update, which sounds like the umteenth version of all the previous excuses, is referencing those who funded 8/20. What the ??????

@ Barbara - just check on your 'My Backer History' that under your profile 'Me' at the top right. Click on that 'Me' and left panel is 'My Account' heading and underneath is where you find the history link. The date shown for the pledge for the Porthole is the date you pledged.

As Martin posted to another backer below with regards to updating your shipping address:
"We will send a survey prior to shipping, allowing people to update the address on file. The other alternative is sending me a message here on Kickstarter with the new address."

There's a "Contact Me" link at the upper right section under Martin/Crucial Details section.